


In The Cards

by Angel Ascending (angel_in_ink)



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Campaign 2 (Critical Role), Can Take Place Anytime After Episode 14, Canon-Typical Drinking, Card Reading, Gen, Making Up Tarot Cards For Fun And No Profit, Overuse Of The Word Bullshit, hurt/comfort if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-26
Updated: 2018-04-26
Packaged: 2019-04-28 08:59:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14445840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angel_in_ink/pseuds/Angel%20Ascending
Summary: “So, it’s mostly bullshit, right?”“Is what mostly bullshit?” Molly asked with a grin and a raised eyebrow. As if he didn’t know. Out of all the things he had revealed under Jester’s truth spell that one time, there had been one thing Beau had seemed particularly focused on.“You know, fortune-telling or whatever,” Beau said, gesturing at his cards. “I mean, I know you said that sometimes you feel something and even Yasha said that she thinks you have a gift for it maybe, and I know you two believe what you were saying because you couldn’t have been lying under the spell and all. But like, in general it’s bullshit, yeah?”





	In The Cards

“So, it’s mostly bullshit, right?”

Molly, who had been idly shuffling his cards to give himself something to do with his hands, looked up as Beau gracelessly sprawled into a chair across from him, her tankard of ale sloshing a bit as it thumped against the table.

“Is _what_ mostly bullshit?” Molly asked with a grin and a raised eyebrow. As if he didn’t know. Out of all the things he had revealed under Jester’s truth spell that one time, there had been one thing Beau had seemed particularly focused on.

“You know, fortune-telling or whatever,” Beau said, gesturing at his cards. “I mean, I know you said that sometimes you feel _something_ and even Yasha said that she thinks you have a gift for it maybe, and I know you two believe what you were saying because you couldn’t have been lying under the spell and all. But like, in general it’s bullshit, yeah?”

Molly continued to shuffle his cards. “I’d say less bullshit and more… open to interpretation. People see what they want to see in the cards, for the most part, and all I need to do is suggest that what they _want_ to see is indeed what they’re seeing.”

Beau took a swig of her ale. Molly guessed she was on her second tankard, she wasn’t slurring her words yet. “Sounds like a convoluted way of saying it’s bullshit to me.”

“People _also_ tend to hear what they want to hear.” Molly said pointedly.

Beau nodded. “Fair point,” she conceded after another swig of ale.

“Someone give you a bad fortune once or something?” Molly asked, suspecting he knew the answer already. “They tell you that you were going to be a spinster all your life with only your fifteen cats for company?”

“Nope,” Beau said, shifting in her chair to tuck one leg up under herself, because gods forbid Beau ever sit normally. “She told me I was going to bring shame upon my family and die young.”

Beau’s tone was casual in a way that Molly knew from his own personal experience was practiced. Something else they had in common. Damn.

“Well now I just feel like an asshole,” Molly said, giving her an easy setup. It was the least he could do.

“So you feel like you look then!” Beau said with a laugh before draining the rest of her tankard and waving it in the air. “Hey, can I get another one of these?” She looked at Molly. “You want anything?”

So not only was Beau hitting the ale awfully hard, she was offering to buy Molly drinks. Something was definitely up. “Well, if you’re offering,” he said brightly. “Ale and a water would be just fine.” The ale was for himself. The water he was going to make Beau drink before she left the table if he had to charm her to do it.

“Make that two ales and a water!” Beau shouted, even though the tavern was relatively quiet. She fiddled with her empty tankard until she traded it for a full one. Molly thanked the barmaid for his own drinks with a smile and a wink.

“I mean, it’s not like I thought she was like, _actually_ a seer or something,” Beau said after taking another long swig of ale. “The woman telling my fortune I mean. It was a small town, and everyone knew each other’s business and they were more than happy to tell it to strangers when they got tired of telling each other. She wasn’t saying anything I hadn’t already heard, that I was bringing shame upon my folks and that I was going to meet a bad end. Kinda wanted to hit her a little, truth be told, but I don’t hit old people. Unless they hit me first.”

Molly heard the slur creeping into Beau’s voice. She sounded a bit sad, recounting that story, and being sad and drunk was not a fun way to spend an evening.

“Sound strategy, very wise,” Molly agreed, nodding. “So you aren’t _actually_ worried that maybe she was right about the death part?”

“Course not,” Beau said, but she didn’t look Molly in the eye when she said it, addressing her comment to the ale in front of her instead before draining at least half of it. Molly watched her hand drift to her chest, touch a scar from her most recent injury, just for a moment.

Damn it all. Molly nearly wished that someone else was around, Jester maybe, to cheer Beau up, but everyone else was off doing their own thing. Nope, it was all up to him.

“Listen, I owe you for the ale,” Molly said. “How about I give you a reading?” He tapped his cards. “A good fortune to replace the bad one.”

Beau gave Molly a look, eyebrow raised. “But it’s bullshit. We literally just talked about this. Literally.”

“Yes, but it’s _me_ doing the bullshitting,” Molly said with a grin. “So you know it’ll be fun. And you don’t know, maybe it’ll be true, and you’ll just think it’s bullshit and then end up pleasantly surprised!” He fanned his cards out on the table, facedown. They were marked, of course, but Beau didn’t know that. Probably.

“Oh fine, since you already spread them out and everything,” Beau said, folding her arms. “Might as well.”

“That’s the spirit!” Molly exclaimed, hands already drifting over the cards, making a show over ‘deciding’ which one to choose. “Let’s see now, this one feels…” Molly drew a card that he had drawn so many times that the corner of it felt worn under his thumb. “Ah, yes,” he said as he flipped the card over, facing Beau. The card depicted two figures in shadow embracing in a garden while a full moon shown above them. “Looks like someone’s getting lucky in their immediate future.”

Beau raised another eyebrow to join the first. “Even I know this card. The Lovers? Really? Though I have to say, this is more tasteful than I thought it would be, considering it’s _your_ deck and all.”

Molly laughed. “Well of course! I save the other versions for people I’m trying to seduce, I don’t keep them in the deck _normally._ ”

Beau stared at him. “You’re kidding.”

Molly grinned widely and reached into an inner pocket of his coat. “I mean, if you want to see…”

Beau grinned. “You’re bluffing.”

Molly pulled out another deck of cards, sorted through them for a second, then turned one around to face Beau, all without breaking eye contact.

Beau recoiled as if Molly had slapped her, clapping a hand over her eyes as a blush darkened her face. “Okay, okay, you weren’t bluffing! Put that away!”

Molly chuckled and obliged her, tucking the deck back into his pocket. “That’s what you get for doubting me.”

“Gods, I can still see it,” Beau said, and she took a drink of her ale like it would somehow wash the image away from her mind. “So, okay, I mean, if this was real and not just you fucking around with me,” Beau gestured at the cards. “Would you be able to tell me _who_ is in love with me?”

“Well of course!” Molly said, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. Beau had to know, right? Everyone knew. Molly was pretty sure _Frumpkin_ knew. He trailed his fingers along the backs of the cards until he found the one he wanted. He flipped it over and placed it next to the first card.

The card showed a figure of indeterminate gender walking down a path, a blindfold tied around their eyes. There were red strings tied around their wrists, the end of the left string trailing back along the path, while the end of the right string was pulled taut ahead of the figure, as if someone unseen was leading them. The card was split in half, the left depicting a garden bathed in light, the other half a swirl of stars.

“Destiny’s Wanderer.” Molly tapped the figure. “Blind to the path before them, but still walking it without fear, head held high, the strings of fate both trailing behind them and leading them on. The path they walk is between the mortal realms and the divine ones, and the Wanderer has a foot in both of those worlds.”

Molly looked up at Beau to gauge her reaction and she looked…. blank. Great.

“Someone who travels a lot. Alone.” Then, just to make sure Beau would get it. “It’s the card I pulled for Yasha the very first time I met her. It’s her card.”

“Oh,” Beau said, very softly. Molly could see the blush creeping up her neck. “Wait. Are you saying I actually have a chance, or are you just bullshitting me?”

Molly reached for his tankard of ale because otherwise he was going to put his head in his hands in frustration. “This is me telling you to actually _talk_ to Yasha the next time she comes around. Or it’s fate telling you, or the gods of your choosing, whatever will get you two to actually _communicate_ for once!”

Molly took a swig of ale and reconsidered. ”Actually, yes, it’s definitely fate telling you, because then Yasha can’t be mad at me for saying anything.” Yasha would figure it out anyway, knowing her, but that would be later. Right now Beau didn’t look sad anymore, and she surely wasn’t thinking about her own mortality, so Molly figured whatever consequences he’d suffer for spilling Yasha’s secret would be worth it.

“Gotcha,” Beau said, and she even grinned a little as she said it. “So, is that it?” She gestured towards the cards. “I was thinking about one more drink, but maybe I’ll go upstairs instead, call it an early night. It’s been a long day.”

Molly opened his mouth to say ‘yes’, and felt something in the back of his mind disagree. His eyes scanned the cards on the table, falling on a particular one near the end. He half reached for it, then jerked his hand away, towards the tankard of water.

“Yup, that’s it. Excellent idea, turning in early, might do that myself after I finish the ale you so graciously bought me.” His grin felt forced and he was speaking much too quickly, but he hoped Beau was just tipsy enough not to notice. “Here, you should drink water before you go to bed though, it’ll help the hangover in the morning.”

Beau waved a hand dismissively as she stood up, swaying a little with the movement. “I’ll be fine.”

Molly caught her eye. “It’s either water now or hangover tea in the morning.”

Beau shuddered. “That tea is wicked gross. Fine.” She took the tankard of water from him and drained it in three long swallows before setting it down on the table. “Happy?”

“Very,” Molly said, leaning back in his chair and lacing his hands behind his head so that Beau wouldn’t see them trembling.

Beau took a step or two towards the stairs, then looked back over her shoulder. “Molly? Ummmm. Thanks.”

There were several things Beau could be thanking him for, but Molly didn’t ask for clarification. “You’re very welcome. Have a good night.”

Molly held his smile until Beau was up the stairs and out of sight before letting it fall from his face. He sat forward in his chair and leaned his elbows on the table, hands clasped together. He stared at the cards for a long moment, the muscles in his right hand twitching, his tail lashing at the legs of the chair.

“It’s done,” Molly whispered. “She’s gone. It’s over.”

The need to draw the last card didn’t go away. If anything, it got stronger. And it wasn’t like _not_ drawing the card would help, it’s not like he didn’t know what card it was. All of Molly’s cards were marked so he knew which ones to draw, but also which ones to stay away from. There were some cards that refused to have a positive spin put on them.

Molly gave a sigh that was more of a snarl and reached for the last card. The edges were crisp, the back still glossy. The only handling it had ever received was the day he had marked it and all the times he had shuffled it. He would have taken it out of the deck entirely, but bad things happened when you started messing with certain cards. Molly turned the card over and withdrew his hand quickly, not wanting to touch it for longer than he had to.

A near skeletal figure in a dark robe stared up at Molly with black, lifeless eyes which were in direct contrast to the smile that was stretched across the creature’s face, a smile that was almost too large for the face itself. Molly looked at the card, known as Grinning Death, then looked up the stairs, in the direction Beau had gone.

“ _Not if I can fucking help it,_ ” Molly hissed in Infernal, and turned the card face down.

**Author's Note:**

> My writing may have slowed down this week, but I definitely haven't stopped, just working on a much longer piece is all. And then, of course, I thought of something COMPLETELY new while I was at work. I hope you enjoyed it!
> 
> Edited to add: Yes I know the meaning of the Death card traditionally. Grinning Death is not that card.
> 
> I'm angel-ascending over on Tumblr if you want to stop in and say hi!


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